Australian Open 2021 day three: Halep and Kyrgios in action, Osaka through – live!

Third set: Tomljanovic* 6-4, 4-6, 2-1 Halep …and back on serve. Halep also streaks to a 40-0 lead, loses the next point, and then completes the break. Tomljanovic served a double fault at 15-40, which helped.

Second set: Kyrgios* 5-7, 6-4 Humbert Kyrgios draws the match level at a set apiece, and then gets the umpire to check the net bad sensors, still grumpy about some of its results. She does so, and says they’re fine.

Third set: Tomljanovic 6-4, 4-6, 2-0 Halep* The first break of the deciding set goes to the Australian, who streaks to a 0-40 lead, overhits a forehand, then watches Halep do the same!

Third set: Tomljanovic* 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 Halep At 40-15 Halep hits a really fantastic sprinting crosscourt forehand winner, and then she’s an inch or two from clearing the net after chasing down a drop shot. She didn’t, however, clear the net and thus it’s a hold.

Second set: Tomljanovic 6-4, 4-6 Halep* A real rarity: a straightforward hold on Margaret Court, where Halep serves out the second set to love. It’s the first love game of the entire match.

Reuters have kindly filed some quotes of the day:

I haven’t met Robert Downey Jr. and I love Marvel and Iron Man. I went shallow there, but it’s fine.

Serena Williams, when asked to name a celebrity she would like to meet.

It feels right, it feels like my living room here. It’s only I’m not sitting on a couch.

Novak Djokovic on playing at Rod Laver Arena.

Right now, I feel like I’m dying.

Marton Fucsovics on having to play a second consecutive five-setter to reach the third round.

When I stepped on the court and we had crowd, even if it’s against me, just to have crowd, I was already excited.

Garbine Muguruza on playing with fans back in the stadium for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

It’s tough to hang with this guy, running left and right, just wasting energy.

Dominik Koepfer on struggling to keep up with Dominic Thiem.

Second set: Kyrgios 2-1 Humbert* Also a break up in the second set is Nick Kyrgios, playing some nice tennis now but also, less encouragingly, looking a little uncomfortable in his movement between points.

Second set: Tomljanovic* 3-4 Halep Another break! On break point Tomljanovic hits a forehand into the top of the net, and it loops up gently to give Halep a straightforward putaway. Halep, for the third time this set, is a break up.

Second set: Tomljanovic 6-4, 2-2 Halep* Four games and four breaks so far in the second set. Halep has only hit two winners in the set so far, with Tomljanovic basically taking it in turns to win and then lose points.

Naomi Osaka does a post-match on-court interview. She says of Garcia that “it’s really hard to play opponents like her because you never know what she’s going to do and how hard she’s going to hit”, and of her next opponent, the Tunisian world No30 Ons Jabeur, that “she’s really funny and nice” and “the match I’m going to play against her is going to be really difficult”. She’s also asked what she has been getting up to in her free time:

Honestly, I just stay in my room. The first day I got here I was really excited, because you guys get to do stuff, unlike in America. So I walked around but then I felt guilty, I didn’t know if guys were staring at me, so then I just stayed in my room and started watching Netflix.

Smashed racket alert! First set: Kyrgios* 5-7 Hubert Nick Kyrgios is broken in the final game of an even first set, and smashes his racket into the court in frustration. A code violation swiftly follows.

Garcia 2-6, 3-6 Osaka* After one hour and one minute – seven minutes shorter than Osaka’s first-round win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Naomi Osaka books her place in round three.

Second set: Tomljanovic* 0-1 Halep Halep breaks to 15 in the opening game of the second set, as Tomljanovic hits three unforced errors and a double fault.

Second set: Garcia* 2-6, 2-5 Osaka While the No2 seed struggles, the No3 seed is looking serene. Osaka’s match started after Halep’s but looks almost over. Osaka has won 93% of points on her first serve in the second set, as well as 47% of points on her opponent’s, and is one game from an early night.

First set: Tomljanovic 6-4 Halep* Tomljanovic breaks to win the opening set! Halep has not had a single easy service game. She won her first to 30, but other than that they’ve all gone to deuce as indeed does this one, eight times. This one game last 15 minutes, with some sensational forehand returning and a couple of fantastic rallies along the way, before Halep sends a forehand into the net to lose the third break point!

First set: Tomljanovic* 5-4 Halep A big game, with Tomljanovic saving a break point on her way to a precious hold, and Halep about to fight to stay in the opening set. Meanwhile on John Cain, Nick Kyrgios is arguing with the umpire, apparently about a let cord decision he didn’t agree with.

First set: Garcia* 2-6 Osaka Naomi Osaka, the No3 seed, is not hanging around. Caroline Garcia, the French world No43, is being fairly emphatically outplayed – other than the two games she won Garcia didn’t have a game point in that set.

First set: Tomljanovic* 4-3 Halep Tomljanovic is absolutely standing should to shoulder, going toe to toe and also mirroring other body parts with Halep here. The match is on serve, but after successive breaks. Halep’s win percentage on her second serve is currently an astonishing 10%.

Here’s a Reuters report on Sorana Cirstea’s shock win over the No9 seed, Petra Kvitova:

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova had no excuses for her second-round exit at the Australian Open on Wednesday, refusing to blame the mandatory two-week quarantine for her rusty display in a 6-4 1-6 6-1 defeat by Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

Kvitova recovered well after losing the opening set but her efforts were undone by untidiness, the Czech finishing with 44 unforced errors and seven double faults.

“I think this match wasn’t really about the quarantine or just practicing differently,” said Kvitova, who was allowed outside her hotel room for five hours a day to train. “It’s a little painful and I’m really disappointed about my loss. I didn’t really bring the best tennis today. It’s really hurting. I should have take the first set when I was leading a break … and it would be different story.”

Kvitova jumped out to a 2-0 lead but could not keep a lid on her errors as Cirstea converted each of her three breakpoint opportunities to claim the opening set.

Kvitova, who finished runner-up at Melbourne Park two years ago, showed glimpses of her powerful ball-striking as she raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before levelling the match when Cirstea handed her a third break with a tame double fault.

Cirstea, however, turned the tables on the Czech in the final set and claimed victory on her third match point with Kvitova hitting a forehand long.

Having secured her first win over a top-10 opponent at a Grand Slam in nine years, Cirstea will next face 19th seed Marketa Vondrousova in a bid to match her best result at the Australian Open – a fourth round showing from four years ago.

“I was one of the few in hard quarantine. I think it’s impressive to come out of 15 days without hitting a ball and competing the way I did today, I wasn’t expecting it,” Cirstea said.

There is a mammoth encounter in progress on the 1573 Arena, where Reilly Opelka is pushing the No27 seed and his fellow American, Taylor Fritz, all the way and then some. Fritz has just broken in the first game of the fifth set to lead 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 after three hours and 49 minutes, and precisely 350 points. The stats are intriguing: Opelka has hit 88 winners to Fritz’s meagre 45, but also 78 unforced errors to Fritz’s 28.

British interest update: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares have wrapped up victory over Cameron Norrie and Marcos Giron, 7-6, 6-3.

First set: Tomljanovic 2-2 Halep* A massive game in every sense, and Halep knows she’s in a scrap now. After 16 points, five deuces and four break points, Halep double faults and the first set is back on serve.

Iga Swiatek has wrapped up victory over Camila Giorgi, 6-2, 6-4. Both players had six break points; Swiatek won four of them, Giorgi just one, and though the Italian was excellent at times that doesn’t accurately reflect Swiatek’s superiority. She hit 17 winners to Giorgi’s 11, and 17 unforced errors to Giorgi’s 31. Nick Kyrgios is next on John Cain. Here’s Swiatek on managing expectations as a 19-year-old Grand Slam winner:

Honestly it’s really hard. You know, I’m really ambitious so I have my own expectations so I have to deal with them, and the other expectations from outside, so I’m working on that. I’m working with a psychologist. I feel I’m doing a good job. I guess I have nothing to lose. I just want to enjoy being on court, and try not to think about the outside world while I’m here.

First set: Tomljanovic 0-2 Halep* The Australian World No72 Ajla Tomljanovic is in for a tough evening against the world No2, though when they played in the final of the Adelaide International just last month it was very far from a thrashing, Halep winning 6-4, 7-5. Tomljanovic gets off to a poor start, being broken in the first game of the match.

Iga Swiatek has reasserted control of her match against Camila Giorgi. She has just held serve to lead 5-3 in the second and appears to be on the doorstep of victory, but Giorgi, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist a couple of years back, has at times played excellently, hit some wonderful winners, and generally banked a more than creditable performance.

British interest latest: there are Brits on both sides of the net on Court 15, where Jamie Murray is in doubles action with his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, up against Marcos Giron, an American, and Cameron Norrie. Murray/Soares are seeded six and edging it so far, leading as they do 7-6, 4-2.

Hello world! There are seven matches currently ongoing, and action about to get under way on the show courts, where the evening session looks like this (Kyrgios and Humbert will have to wait for the end of Iga Swiatek’s match against Camila Giorgi, which from 6-2, 2-0 in favour of the No15 seed has suddenly turned complicated, and it’s now 3-3 in the second):

Rod Laver Arena

Caroline Garcia (France) v Naomi Osaka (Japan, 3)
Maxime Cressy (US) v Alexander Zverev (Germany, 6)

Margaret Court Arena

Alja Tomljanovic (Australia) v Simona Halep (Romania, 2)
Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 18) v Alex Bolt (Australia)

John Cain Arena

Nick Kyrgios (Australia) v Ugo Humbert (France, 29)

Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic has crashed out of the tournament, defeated 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 by Denis Shapovalov. The Australian qualifier, who progressed to the second round after his first-round opponent retired, made a whopping 40 unforced errors. Shapovalov, the Canadian 11th seed, will face compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round.

And in case you missed it, Dominic Thiem made light work of 70th-ranked German Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, and will next play the winner of tonight’s battle between Nick Kyrgios and Ugo Humbert.

Well, the world No 1 rose to the occasion on a court he says is as comfortable as his living room.

“Very tough match,” Djokovic says post-match. “Difficult conditions. While we had sun on the court it was very warm. A lot of long rallies. I want to give a hand to Frances again for a great fight. It was a fantastic match on his part.”

In some ways this type of challenge will get Djokovic into his groove early in the tournament. In others, it will have tired him out.

“The matches will only get tougher,” he says. “It’s not the first time I’m in this kind of situation. I know how to handle these kind of circumstances, but at the same time I was fortunate to get through the third set today. It is probably the most aces I have served to someone and someone has served to me in a long time.”

In the end, Djokovic served 26 aces to Tiafoe’s 23.

He also references Tiafoe’s crucial loss of serve to violation.

“He deserved to have a first serve and play it out to the end.”

On Rod Laver Arena:

“It feels like my living room, to be honest. I feel comfortable playing here. I think the surface has changed over the years – this is probably the quickest speed I have played on at Rod Laver Arena, so you need a big serve, and if you don’t have a big serve you have to grind and win the battle.”

These past 20 minutes or so have all but erased Tiafoe’s hopes. His head is no longer in it. Djokovic wins the first point, Tiafoe wins the next with an ace. It’s 30-15, 30-30, 30-40. It’s a double fault that gifts Djokovic victory. A deflating end to a classic, physical match. The pair hug enthusiastically.

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic* 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 5-3 Frances Tiafoe (* denotes server) Djokovic made a crucial break in the last game and serves here. Tiafoe runs to his box to grab a towel for a cursory wipe of the forehead. The umpire has called him out on it, having been lenient on him so far. He has already lost two serves to time violations, though, and now he gets another violation for spraying the umpire with expletives. He loses the game and lifts his racket over his head as if to smash it into the ground, but doesn’t. He’s serving to stay in the match.

Let’s just take a very quick moment to catch up on some results. Bernard Tomic is down two sets to Denis Shapovalov after the Canadian 11th seed raced to a 6-1, 6-3 lead.

Marton Fucsovics has overcome Stan Wawrinka in a five-set classic that sees the Hungarian progress to the third round.

Ninth seed Petra Kvitova has suffered an upset three-set loss to Sorana Cirstea.

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 2-3 Frances Tiafoe* (* denotes server) Back to the action and there are scenes as Djokovic helps Tiafoe find his shock absorber, which flew off his racket. It is a nice bit of interaction between the pair and also probably a welcome rest. It follows an epic rally that has left Djokovic quite literally hunched over himself. Tiafoe comes back from 0-30 to win the game

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic* 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 2-2 Frances Tiafoe (* denotes server) We’re at deuce and Tiafoe is pushing him all the way but he holds.

I didn’t see much of this game, having looked up from the TV screen once in the past three hours and eight minutes. It was for good reason – to view this video of a lawyer stuck in a cat filter while on a Zoom call. It has honestly made my week.

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 1-2 Frances Tiafoe* (* denotes server) He’s quick, is Tiafoe, but not quick enough to handle his foe’s relentless drives to the baseline. And he’s shaking his head at something as he pauses before serving again. He has a winner, and potentially might have notched another if it weren’t for Djokovic’s sprint to a volley. The latter takes the server to deuce and is heading the tennis ball in celebration. Tiafoe can’t catch a break, and Novak is about to. He has the advantage. Tiafoe sends down an ace. It takes him two goes to convert his following advantages and when he does a “let’s go!” rings out through the stadium. The young challenger is out of jail, for now. He drinks more magic potion, which is likely electrolytes.

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic* 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 1-1 Frances Tiafoe (* denotes server) I really can’t pick this. Tiafoe has a spring in his step as he strides over for a racket change, carrying two of them back out to the court and then returning one. Is that sarcasm from Djokovic? He holds the ball out at the service line as if to say “are you bloody well ready?” and proceeds to win the point. The pair trade blows until Djokovic takes the upper hand at 40-30 and converts via – you guessed it – an ace.

Fourth set: Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) 0-1 Frances Tiafoe* (* denotes server) Service game to love.

Third set tie-break: Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6(7-2) Frances Tiafoe Tiafoe needs these next two points. They are off and trying every play in the handbook until Tiafoe again shakes the net. This play-off is slipping from his grasp. An unforced error makes it 6-2 before Djokovic has the winner and win he does this third set. The clock is at 2:44 now and this match could continue far longer. The pressure is both men. Tiafoe to overturn the deficit, Djokovic to grind him down.

Third set tie-break: Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-6(4-2) Frances Tiafoe Make that another ace for Novak. He’s muttering under his breath, waiting for Tiafoe’s serve. He faults, lands the second. Djokovic nets after a baseline rally.